


chance encounter

by PaigeOfSpace



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Post-Scratch, why does no one appreciate dirk and jane's friendship like honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 13:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6054061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaigeOfSpace/pseuds/PaigeOfSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young lady runs into a certain hot-shot movie guy in a café.</p>
            </blockquote>





	chance encounter

**Author's Note:**

> for the record, this is supposed to be shortly after jane's 13th bday. have fun with the references to shit that i added, i certainly had fun putting them in

Jane couldn’t believe her eyes when she walked into the café.

“Are you…” she asked incredulously, approaching the man in dark shades, “are you David Strider?”

“I am,” he said, looking up at her.

“That is sooooo cooooooool!” Mr. Strider smiled at this. “Actually, this is a huge coincidence, but it just so happens that I’m good friends with your brother Dirk!” 

“That’s real fuckin’ neato.” Jane blinked, completely stunned and unsure how to respond, until he held up a hand and quickly clarified. “That was 100% sincere. Please, have a seat, Jane.” 

“Oh, uh, gosh! That’s so nice!” Jane was a bit thrown by the fact that Mr. Strider seemed to already know who she was, but she nonetheless sat down in the chair across the table from him. _He probably just knows that I’m the Crockercorp heiress,_ she thought, _that must be it._

“You know, Jane, I’m a very busy man. Places to go, people to see, or something like that. I don’t get to see my lil bro very often. Don’t suppose you could fill me in on what he’s been up to recently?” 

“Well, you know, he’s…” Jane searched in vain for words to describe Dirk Strider. “...he likes to keep himself busy.” Mr. Strider chuckled. 

“Oh man, what sort of unsettling pornbot has he cooked up this time?” Jane’s eyes widened in a mix of confusion and horror. 

“Well, uh, I don’t know about, um, a _porn_ bot,” she said, stumbling nervously over her words, “but he _did_ make an artificial copy of himself that lives in his glasses, or something like that. He calls it his auto-responder. I love that thing!” 

“That seems pretty sweet,” Mr. Strider said, giving a stoic nod of respect, “What else?” 

“What else, what else… Oh! One of the other two members of our little group of chums loves adventuring and fisticuffs and whatnot, so Dirk built him a robot to fight with so he can improve. Though it sounds to me as though he spends more time hiding from it!” Jane laughed. 

“Now that _definitely_ sounds like something my bro would do. Or, uh, make, I guess.” 

“Yeah… You know, he talks about you a lot, Mr. Strider.” Jane said with a smile. “I think he really looks up to you! It’s very sweet.” 

“Oh, really?” Mr. Strider appeared somewhat surprised. He turned to look out the window, seemingly lost in thought. “I’m really proud of him, you know.” 

“You should be,” Jane said, resting her head in her hands, “He’s a wonderful friend. One of the best I could have ever asked for.” 

“I’m glad to hear that, Jane.” 

The only-slightly-awkward silence that followed was broken when a waiter appeared at their table. 

“And what can I get for you two?” 

“Apple juice for me, and the young lady would like…” Mr. Strider gestured to Jane. 

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly…” Jane began, shaking her hands, but Mr. Strider interrupted her. 

“Jane, I’m a hot-shot movie guy. I can afford to buy you a drink. Shit, I could afford to buy this whole place and have them serve drinks to only you for the rest of your life. Call it Jane’s Café.” Jane turned red, and the waiter’s eyes widened. 

“Well... could I get a hot chocolate please? With extra whipped cream!” The waiter left, whispering something to a waitress as he passed by, and Jane turned back to Mr. Strider. 

“I was expecting you to be an orange soda fellow, like Dirk.” she confessed. 

“Me? Nah, AJ’s my jam. But enough about me, I wanna hear about you.” 

“About me?” Jane felt her face growing warm again. 

They talked for a long time about Jane’s life. The waiter brought them their drinks, but they sat mostly untouched as Jane told Mr. Strider all about her love of baking, her dad and his adventures as a private eye, and even her failed stint as a botanist. Jane found herself blushing often - no one had ever paid her this much attention before, and it felt nice. It certainly didn’t help that Mr. Strider was actually quite handsome, especially in the rare moments when he smiled. (Jane vowed to never admit this to anyone, _especially_ not Roxy.) 

“Oh dadburn it, what’s the time?” Jane asked in a panic, suddenly remembering the curfew her father had imposed. 

“4:53 PM,” Mr. Strider quickly answered. 

“I’m supposed to be home by five! Oh dear,” she said, standing up.

“I can give you a ride, If you’d like.” Mr. Strider left a hefty tip on the table and the two departed. When they arrived at Jane’s house, he offered to walk her to the door.

“Thank you so much for everything, Mr. Strider! I had a lovely time,” Jane said, standing in the open doorway.

“Same here,” Mr. Strider replied, “Glad I got the chance to meet one of my lil bro’s lil friends.”

“Say, you’re an acquaintance of Rosalind Lalonde, are you not?”

“Yup, she’s like a sister to me.”

“Do you suppose you could give her my regards? As it happens, I’m also best friends with her daughter Roxy!”

“Will do, kiddo. See ya,” he said, waving over his shoulder as he started back down the path to his car.

“Oh, wait! Uh, Mr. Strider?” Jane shouted. He stopped and turned back to her.

“Yeah?” 

“Pardon my curiosity, but can I ask what a ‘hot-shot movie guy’ like yourself is doing here in a Washington suburb?” Mr. Strider looked up to the sky, where the first stars had begun to twinkle.

“Checking up on the family of an old friend.”

A strong gust of wind blew past, ruffling their hair and causing his suit jacket to flap wildly. A chill ran down Jane’s spine, and it felt as if there was another person standing there with them.

Mr. Strider offered her a final silent wave before returning to his car and driving into the distance. Jane lingered in the doorway a few moments longer, watching as he left, until her father called her in for dinner.

* * *

That night, Jane couldn’t stop puzzling about her chance encounter with Mr. Strider. How did he know her name before she had introduced herself? How did he know what the time was without checking any manner of timekeeping device? And who was this “old friend” he had mentioned? Jane had a sneaking suspicion that it was her dear departed poppop, and that the “family” Mr. Strider was checking up on was none other than Jane herself.

gutsyGumshoe [GG] began bothering timaeusTestified [TT]

GG: Dirk, are you there?  
TT: I am. What’s up?  
GG: Oh, good! I thought you might have gone to sleep.  
GG: I have a question for you.  
GG: It’s about your brother.  
TT: Shoot.  
GG: Did he ever mention having known my poppop?  
TT: Hmm.  
TT: Not that I know of.  
TT: And I do know a fair bit about the dude.  
GG: Sigh.  
GG: That’s what I figured.  
TT: They were both in “the biz,” as you or English might say.  
TT: But your granddad was before my bro’s time.  
TT: Outside of that, I can’t think of any reason for them to have known each other.  
TT: Unless…  
TT: It had something to do with us.  
GG: :O  
GG: But my poppop died before I was born!  
TT: Fair enough.  
TT: But I think you’ll find there are mysterious circumstances surrounding that particular event.  
TT: And, in fact, surrounding all of us, and our predecessors.  
GG: God dammit.  
GG: If this more of that ridiculous story you three have been trying to feed me, I’ll be having none of it!  
GG: Enough nigh-impossible stuff has already happened to me today.  
TT: What?  
GG: Oh, right!  
GG: Dirk, you’ll never believe this, but I met him!  
TT: Your dead poppop?  
GG: No, silly! :B  
GG: Your brother!  
TT: Really?  
GG: Yeah! I ran into him at a cafe, and we talked for a while.  
GG: He told me he was proud of you, Dirk.  
TT: …  
TT: Shucks, buster.  
GG: :D  


**Author's Note:**

> do you know how much rereading i had to do just to find out if dirk says "hmm" and uses ellipses. Do You,  
> ALSO THE HOMESTUCK SKIN CODE BROKE SO I HAD TO CODE ALL THE COLORS AND THE FONT IN THE PESTERLOG MYSELF. it is a mess in there let me tell you,


End file.
